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Resuming Control

Posted on by Don

As posted sometime on Threads. This particular post was made using the web version, not the app. Because about a week before that post, I finally removed Threads from my phone. Not only Threads, but Instagram, Facebook and Strava. Basically, any app that has a timeline that is driven by an algorithm, I am no longer using it on my personal, mobile device. I’m keeping Linkedin, because you never know when you want to search for a new job, and I’ve gone there for ‘content’ anyway.

This has been a long time coming for me. Facebook, over the years, has become more and more unuseable. I only see posts from the same 2 or 3 people (that I rarely like or comment on), never see posts from family members, eventhough I should get notified when they post, and the experience, in general, is bad. I really haven’t been there since the start of the pandemic.

For the others, while I have been able to tune my algorithm to see the kinds of content that I want to see, I was no longer seeing posts from people I follow, or, in my attempt to see those post, I’d find myself scrolling, forever. Just wasting time. Not just Instagram, but Threads as well, since it’s really nothing but Reels/Tik Tok for words.

You notice that I didn’t mention Twitter. I broke up with that app when Elon took over and haven’t looked back. The amount of trash ads and ultra, super duper right-wing disinformation posting isn’t really a huge draw for me either, so I’m not missing out on anything.

As for Strava, I have many issues with that app, almost all of them internal to me and my anxieties. I am going to be talking about it more, but I’ll save that for the bike show.

This way is better. Better for my time management, better for my overall mental health. Just better. I’ve been complaining about the algorithm for a very long time, I’m glad that I have finally done something about it.

Being Bald is a Pain in the Ass

Posted on by Don

Ah, aging. It really sucks. Just ask your folks and they will tell you. Or stick around here because this is probably going to turn into a series of posts, complaining about my experiences. Let’s go ahead and take it from the top.

Just logged my 55th trip around the sun in June. As my wife was cutting my hair, it was looking less and less sparse, and not in a good way. We discussed shaving it off but didn’t do it, until I received an electric shaver as a gift from my wife, ready to go the minute I was. Finally, I just said fuck it and did the deed.

Really, from the front, I couldn’t tell the difference. However, the front 3/4 view was something that I definitely knew was going to take some getting used to. So began the rituals.

For me, to keep it looking, um, bald, I need to shave every other day. I barely shave my face that often! If one does not keep up on the maintenace, bad things can happen. Things like velcro head. This is an actual thing (all the bald fellas, what up!) where the layer of fuzz on your head acts like the sticky side of velcro. Towels stick, shirts and, especially and, sweaty workout clothes. I’ve actually gotten trapped once, flailing away in the closest until my wife came and helped me escape.

Now that I’ve been at it for a few months, including a few weeks without a shaver, I’m still at it, with modifications. I have determined that a good routine is to shave once per week, typically on Sunday. That leaves me a few days to let the 5 o’clock shadow for form, which actually looks better than fully bald. Since there is no way for me to keep that length, weekly shaving is how I will maintain.

Uncle

Posted on by Don

I think I’ve mentioned, more than once, how much I enjoy The Hollywood Car Show. It was fun to make, it was fun to listen to. It was fun. At least I thought so. It would appear that you don’t agree. And, when I say you, I mean the collective, internet, you. All y’all. And to that I say ok, it’s done so you don’t have to see me talk about it anymore.

I was called out on this recently. If it was something I really enjoyed, audience shouldn’t be a problem, right? Except audience (or, more specifically, downloads and page views), is how we keep score these days. I mean, I can’t manage to make any fucking money off of these damn podcasts, so why can’t I hope for more than single digits downloads? I posted these shows here, to Fireball’s blog, Shitter, Facebook, Mastodon and Instagram. And still the best the show could pull was 9 downloads?

This is the frustrating thing about making a podcast. During S01 of my personal podcast project, I was only getting single digit downloads, but that was almost by design. That season wasn’t for you, it was for me to make sure I could complete a podcast cycle (record, edit, assemble, upload, write, post). That anyone listened at all was a treat!

If you did subscribe, thanks. But, you can go ahead and remove it. Pretty good chance that one is not coming back.

Non-Alcholic Beer?

Posted on by Don

For those that have been playing the home game, you already know that I am a fan of craft beer. I have checked into 1048 beers on untappd, 679 of those unique. This includes at least 3 that are non-alcoholic/near beers.

Of late, me and drinking haven’t been getting along. If it’s evening, my new limit is 1 unless I want to have issues sleeping or otherwise feel icky. If I have 2, I’m probably still ok if it’s early. If I have three, forget it. Day time I’m still ok, but that’s giving me more time to let the alcohol get out of my system. This is definitely an age thing as almost everyone that I discuss this with agrees and has similar issues with The Booze.

“Dammit!” he says. “I really like my drinks!” he says.

A good friend of mine decided it was time to start sampling NA beers. I was able to taste some of the offerings he started with, and it was a very unpleasant experience. This was a few months ago, and since there has been a lot of improvement.

Let’s start with the beers pictured above. They are all from the latest Brewdog Mix Pack that I picked up at my local Total Wine. I’ve only sampled the three that you are seeing, and every one of them is a winner! Not a “that’s interesting, not drinking again” winner, but a legit, I’m-glad-there-are-more-in-the-fridge winner! The Nanny State actually had me, and my wife, fooled. If you would have told me this was a light beer from a craft brewery, I would have believed it!

So when you see me check in to an NA beer on Untappd, don’t worry, my account wasn’t hacked. It was me, getting my (NA) beer on.

Nerd Time: 2012 Mac Mini Updated

Posted on by Don
Mac Mini About this Mac screen

What a workhorse! I’ve had this Mac Mini since 2012. 16GB of RAM, 2.3 Core I7 processor. Not a screaming fast machine by any means, but still completely serviceable, depending on the need. It is a computer that I have stopped using due to age and performance. Due to this, I have upgraded. Still, this is a functioning computer and it seems a waste to not use it. So, nerd me went to work!

(Insert A-Team theme playing video montage here)

Back in my working-for-computer-makers days, I did some side work for a guy spamming fax machines with ads for tape drive repair. Well, not really spam, more of a blast to existing customers. Anyway, I was tasked with this project using only what was available to me at the time. The computer was maybe a pentium-class processor? Running Windows 95 I think (when Pentium II were available on Windows 2000). There was no budget beyond my pay, so I had to make it work. Doing this really taught me how to get shit done with or without resources/budget. This is a skill I used at every IT manager job and continue to use today!

The Mac Mini is still functional, but pretty slow and running MacOS Catalina (10.15). I had to stop using it for podcasting and voice over work because it had gotten so slow. Even after I did a fresh installation of the OS, it was still to sluggish to be useful, hence my upgrade to an 15″ M2 Macbook Air.

Still in need of a computer for other things, I went ahead and starting researching upgrading the Mini, using OpenCore Legacy Patcher and the best version for that old computer. I found quite a few people saying that Mac OS Big Sur (11.7) runs great and started working towards that.

Then I was talking to Brian at Ride Bikes Radio who just loaded Mac OS Ventura (13.5) on an equally old Mac Book Pro and reported it was running great. So, I did that instead! And holy cats, it IS great!

Typically, puttting a newer version of an operating system on old systems, at least on PCs, doesn’t always work that great. Hardware issues, processor issues, everything issues. Oh, and they are usually too slow to useable, as I recently discovered when I tried to revive an old Asus laptop with a SSD and Windows 10. Sure, it would boot and was functional, but the boot took about 5 minutes and every app took even longer to load.

That is not the case with the Mini. In fact, if anything, I’d say it is running better on newer OS. While there are a lot of things that it won’t do because the hardware doesnt’ support it, what it will do far outweighs those missing features.

Immediately after completing the installation, I put it to work! Starting with a photo project where I needed to work on 30GB of photos on an external (USB-A) drive. This guy didn’t even break a sweat, and I was doing all of the work over a wifi-connected VNC connection. Almost like I was working directly on the computer.

It’s nice to have this up and running and I am really looking forward to putting it to work!

Links

1 : https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/

2 : https://ridebikesradio.com